Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006

Dear Mr. Dvorkin,

Having just relistened to a "truth with edge" show on which you were the featured guest [available here [1]], I have the same reaction I had the first time I heard it: I don't believe that what the news media "owes" and the citizenry needs is so much "edge" as it is "truth with context" to fascilitate dot connecting.

A simple example: The "main" news item is that the US is accusing Iran and Syria of funneling money and arms to Hezbolah. Why couldn't the next sentence be that the US has supplied Israel with X billions of aid and X billions in miltary assistance annually for the last X decades? Not only are both true, but the second item would reveal to a US audience what the rest of the world knows and thinks as soon as it hears the American accusation.

Another simple example: Bush demands that the partisan acrimony in congress end. The next item might be that Bush claimed that he would be a uniter, not a divider. (Fill in here the miriad examples of misleading statements made during his original campaign and his actions and statements made since.)

What we need is reporting with MORE relevant facts, more context, more comparisons and contrasts, including related, especially seemingly contradictory, historical facts. This type of reporting would make history, memory, and education part of its service to the common good.

Respectfully,

Celine Grenier

CCJ Executive Director Jeffrey Dvorkin's response:

Dear Ms. Grenier,

Thanks for your note.

I think we don't disagree on this matter. In our somewhat impoverished media environment, "edge" and "context" are often the same thing. Whatever you call it, the ability to inform the public rests on the ability and the willingness of the media to point out that events just don't occur in a political or a historical vacuum. The listener who wrote me at NPR to ask what "edge" was, I believe, [was] simply stating that he wants journalists to be able to act as interpreters of events, not simply stenographers. At the same time, journalists have to reject the tendency to pontificate. Conclusions are encouraged, but only if the on-the-ground reporting has happened first.

Thanks for writing and for contributing to this important dialogue.

Regards,

Jeffrey Dvorkin
Executive Director, CCJ

Do you have a question about how the media operates? A concern about a specific issue or event related to media coverage that you'd like our staff or our network of trainers, members, and associates to address? Send us an email at ccj@concernedjournalists.org [2].

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